<p>Congratulations to those who received a fine score in December SAT!</p>
<p>But let me refrain by saying that there are many of us who did not receive the scores that we desired to get, just like I did.</p>
<p>What I want to ask is..... Do scores really matter anymore?</p>
<p>I know that SAT is one of the most important factors in getting into colleges, but my friend got into Harvard last year with a 1800 SAT, and another friend of mine got accepted to UPENN with a 2000 this year.</p>
<p>The guy with 1800 obviously had an amazing essay that was 3500 words long, and UPENN girl had extremely good extra curricular activities.</p>
<p>I also plan on applying to couple Ivies with my 2100,,,, and I am starting to wonder if SAT really matter anymore in top-notch schools where essays and ECs are a huge chunk.</p>
<p>SAT is most important in the college admissions process, it gives the college an idea of where your common sense level is at. Second would be your GPA and extracurricular. Finally the essay is the part where you attempt to add the icing onto the cake, to seal the deal.</p>
<p>There’s always a chance, don’t let your SAT scores discourage you, if you apply there’s always a chance, only way to be sure that you won’t get in is if you don’t apply.</p>
<p>@Harvardee: long essay doesn’t neccessarily mean acceptance. What the essay is ABOUT is what really matters. 2100 does seem a bit low for Harvard’s standards and your ECs are good, but not extraordinary, so unless your essay is mindblowingly amazing, you’ll need some other hooks too.</p>
<p>Behind every one of these “omgzz i noe some1 who got into ______ and theyz only had da 1700” situations, there HAS to be a catch. It’s also implausible for an essay to flip an admission decision entirely.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a chance with H at 2100. I know, because my daughter was called (via telephone) several times by their admissions office. Her self-reported test scores–prior to taking the SAT exam–were in the 1800s. After completing the exam (and getting an 1810, which was reported to H), she was still called. She was also contacted by MIT and she is NOT a science whiz. MIT has a great liberal arts program in certain fields. </p>
<p>The catch? My daughter had an extra-curricular–NOT through school, but something she had done on her own, with no adult assistance–which brought her national recognition. She is neither a star athlete or a musical prodigy. She merely pursued a passion for something she felt in her heart and shared with others. </p>
<p>BTW, if you look at the undergrad courses offered at H, there are remedial math classes which utilize some of the same Intermediate Algebra (lower than College Algebra) textbooks also utilized at community colleges. These classes would not be offered at H if there was not a need for them! </p>
<p>Not everyone at H is going to have a 2350. Even on their website, H mentions the “lopsided students”, the ones who are very talented in a few diverse areas.</p>
<p>SAT still counts. Although it’s not nearly as important as grades, it’s a very important admissions factor. Its a quantitative value that admissions officers can use to profile you. You can get accepted to a school with a seriously below-average score, but you need AMAZING ECs to compensate for it, because the second they see a low score they’ll already be biased against you.</p>
<p>Some LACs refuse to use SAT scores in admissions decisions, and other LACs allow applicants to choose to not use their SAT scores in the admissions process. But it’s the big-name schools (Ivies, Stanford and MIT, etc) and public schools that will still use them. These schools have so many applicants that they don’t have time to scrutinize applications and need that number to quickly evaluate their applicants.</p>
<p>They accept low-scored kids partly to say that they don’t take scores that seriously. But I think those kids got acceptance because other factors overwhelmed the score and ONLY in their cases, scores were disregarded.</p>